President David Granger’s suggestion of retired Justice Claudette La Bennett and GPHC Chairperson Kesaundra Alves for addition to a list of persons to be considered for Chair of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has been rejected by Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo who yesterday submitted four additional names.
Director General of the Ministry of the Presidency Joseph Harmon said that the president will once again begin consideration of the four names, with another round of the “hammering out” process scheduled to continue today. Four names had been previously described as “not unacceptable”. Two more names are needed from the four submitted yesterday to round off a list of six for submission to the President.
No time has yet been determined for today’s meeting between the two teams representing the President and the Opposition Leader.
“The two names previously suggested by the President did not find favour with the Leader of the Opposition,” a joint statement from representatives of Granger and Jagdeo yesterday disclosed. It also said that four additional names were submitted by Jagdeo for consideration.
“The four names will now be submitted to the President for consideration and the process of hammering-out will continue [today],” the statement added.
The president’s representatives at the meeting were Minister of Public Health Volda Lawrence and Harmon while Jagdeo was represented by PPP/C Presidential Candidate Irfaan Ali and former Attorney General Anil Nandlall.
Following the meeting, which was held at the Ministry of the Presidency and which lasted for about one hour, representatives from both sides gave brief updates to the press but said that it was agreed to by both sides that none of the four names would be disclosed until the president had deliberated on them.
Harmon would only say that all of the names submitted are of Guyanese persons but did not answer if they were overseas based.
For his part, Nandall said that all of the four names submitted yesterday were of men.
He said that he wanted to make clear that the leader of the opposition’s rejection was in keeping with his role as per the Constitution where the names he submits are selected by him.
“It is a hammering out process and we don’t know if any of the four, because we already had four…would find favour with the president,” Ali added.
“The language of the CCJ (Caribbean Court of Justice) has to be read in context and that context is that Article 161 (2) and that Article places responsibility on each of the two players. The responsibility of the leader of the opposition is to continuously submit names with the objective of finding the not-unacceptability of the president. It is not for the president to do so,” Nandlall said.
Persuade ourselves
“From the moment we begin to persuade ourselves that the president has such a responsibility, duty or power, then we would be distorting Article 161 (2). Names must continue to come from the leader of the opposition, until the president says yes six times,” he added.
Yesterday’s meeting was a follow up on the shortlisting process held on Tuesday with President Granger and Jagdeo and a one-week informal process between representatives of the two leaders.
After that meeting, they had jointly announced that four candidates had been found “not unacceptable” for the appointment.
Granger told a press briefing immediately after that the two sides were able to come to a “broad agreement.”
A joint statement, read by Harmon, said that it was agreed that from a list of five names shortlisted by the working group that held talks last week, four names were found not unacceptable to the president and as part of the process to settle on the remaining two, the two names suggested by the president “and others as may be necessary, will be discussed further.”
Granger noted that the authority of the opposition leader to submit a list of six names not unacceptable to the president has not been impaired nor varied and that when the president receives the list, he will make a choice.
He had suggested that retired judge La Bennett and Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation Chairperson Alves be considered for inclusion on the final list.
Nandall said that he believes progress was made yesterday, even in his team relaying the opposition’s leader rejection of the president’s nominees.
“I think progress was made in the sense that we were able to convey to the president’s delegation that the names suggested by the president did not find the acceptance of the leader of the opposition and that we advance the process further with the submission of four more names,” he said.
He stressed that it in no way means that the president could not suggest names but that those would have to also find favour with the leader of the opposition.
“The word submit only applies to the leader of the opposition. If we start that the president has the duty or obligation or a power, then we will end up with a unilateral appointment because the president will end up with a person of his own choosing… and that is exactly why the CCJ said the process was flawed,” he said.
“If one or two or three of those names finds the acceptance and approval of the leader of the opposition, then of course [it would be added to his list of six]. Then our job will be much easier and we are hoping that that kind of name would come,” he added.
Both sides have committed to the selection of a chairperson as early as possible since GECOM’s preparation for elections is dependent on a chair.
The CCJ, which is Guyana’s final appeal court, has ruled that a no-confidence motion against government was legally passed on December 21st, 2018 and it has declared that the clear provisions of Article 106 immediately became engaged with the passage.
Article 106 (6) stipulates that “The Cabinet including the President shall resign if the Government is defeated by the vote of a majority of all the elected members of the National Assembly on a vote of confidence.”
Article 106 (7) adds, “Notwithstanding its defeat, the Government shall remain in office and shall hold an election within three months, or such longer period as the National Assembly shall by resolution supported by not less than two-thirds of the votes of all the elected members of the National Assembly determine, and shall resign after the President takes the oath of office following the elections.”
Government has since accepted its “interim” status based on the judgment of the court but has declared that Cabinet is continuing to function.
